SD-WAN vs. MPLS: Key Differences, Costs & Use Cases.

Choosing between a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) isn’t always about replacing one with the other. It’s about finding the right, cost-effective mix to improve routing, and maintain scalability as your apps, cloud traffic, and user demands scale. As organizations move more apps to cloud services and increase virtual private network (VPN) usage, networks teams are overlaying SD-WAN solutions over MPLS circuits to reduce backhauling and make it all work together. This guide will show you what that means in real life use cases, including the benefits of SD-WAN, what makes sense to keep, what becomes cost prohibitive quickly, and where policy usually fails.

SD-WAN vs MPLS cost comparison

MPLS contracts can tie you to a lengthy provisioning timeline, costs that are harder to control, and less agility when your network infrastructure needs to adapt to growing or shifting needs. VPNs add a layer of encryption, but they don’t solve WAN connectivity issues like routing delays or bandwidth limits. SD-WAN offers the freedom to roam and route over broadband internet, LTE, or some combination without relying on one carrier or being locked into proprietary routers.

If you’re dealing with the complexity of your MPLS network, switching to SD-WAN means you can  simplify enterprise networking by managing bandwidth across branch offices and routing traffic based on what each app needs. It also helps reduce packet loss and optimize application performance through policies like quality of service (QoS), automation and more, resulting in an improved user experience. For a deeper look at security policy planning and practical SD-WAN uses, the SD-WAN security checklist for IT leaders breaks it down. As more companies compare SD-WAN vs MPLS, the real question is which one gives you more control without burning through the budget.

Performance and risk tradeoffs

MPLS is steady and predictable. It keeps data on fixed routes and delivers low jitter and consistent latency, which is why it’s still used for voice, trading systems, and other critical applications. However, MPLS connections are rigid. When a network experiences a change in network traffic patterns (e.g., due to a new SaaS rollout or cloud migration), MPLS can’t change its routes automatically.

An SD-WAN reacts in real time. It can monitor for latency or lost data packets and send traffic over broadband internet, LTE or a private link, whichever is performing best. That kind of path steering results in more consistent access to cloud-based apps for branch offices and remote workers. It also gives you more control over app prioritization, as you can apply QoS rules on an as-needed basis.

Here’s the catch: if your routing changes but your firewall rules don’t, you’ve got a gap. In hybrid setups, traffic flows through VPNs and data centers, and that makes things even more complex. Unless you’re monitoring changes, it’s difficult to keep policies in sync. The Tufin Orchestration Suite helps teams keep policies aligned across dynamic paths.

The bottom line is, when making an SD-WAN vs. MPLS decision or just trying to realize modern connectivity, it’s not just about traffic routing. If your security policies can’t move as fast as your data, you’re going to miss something.

Policy management and operational control

Policy management gets messier as SD-WAN proliferates. Teams commission internet connections, spin up VPNs, and become increasingly reliant on dynamic routing. The one thing that doesn’t necessarily change dynamically are firewall rules. That’s how you end up with mismatched access controls, gaps in segmentation, or exposed ports—critical functions no one realized were open until something goes wrong.

MPLS avoids a lot of this because traffic follows fixed paths. SD-WAN takes dynamic paths that are determined at wire speed, often over overlays and broadband internet. But the system won’t clean up after itself. Just because traffic shifts automatically doesn’t mean your network management or security policies follow.

You need end-to-end visibility into how routing is changing and whether the right rules are still in place. Did the firewall catch the new path? Did segmentation hold? With the Tufin Orchestration Suite, teams can track these changes, detect drift, and resolve issues before they become an outage.

If you’re looking at SD-WAN vs. MPLS from a control perspective, this is where SD-WAN gets tricky. SD-WAN is very fast and very scaleable, but if your policies get out of sync, it’s not like your dashboard will alert you. You will only find out when you have an outage.

Making the right choice for your network

Many organizations are deploying SD-WAN and MPLS in parallel. MPLS takes on the critical or non-failover traffic flows and SD-WAN handles everything else, dynamically shifting routes across the public internet using overlays, QoS, and automation to optimize cloud access. MPLS circuits still matter for apps that need guaranteed network performance, but it’s the mix of WAN architecture choices that gives you control. If you’re figuring out how to manage both without letting policy fall behind, get a demo.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main differences in security between SD-WAN vs. MPLS?

MPLS is a private network, a closed system with implicit trust. SD-WAN runs on top of public networks where nothing is trusted by default. That means you need tighter firewall policies, constant visibility, and updated segmentation (or a broader Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework) to avoid gaps when traffic shifts. If you don’t keep up, rules break and exposure creeps in.

Check the SD-WAN security checklist for IT leaders for a practical rundown on what to monitor.

How do SLAs compare in SD-WAN vs. MPLS deployments?

MPLS comes with rigid service level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee service provider performance for uptime, latency, and jitter. SD-WAN doesn’t. Instead, it relies on intelligent routing, traffic shaping, and monitoring to work around issues in real time. If you don’t have strong policies in place, you won’t know something’s wrong until users start complaining.

Get a breakdown of what to lock down in the SD-WAN security checklist for IT leaders.

Is VPN a reliable alternative when weighing SD-WAN vs. MPLS?

VPN will encrypt your traffic, but it won’t let you prioritize apps, failover around outages, or manage cloud connections. It’s great for remote access but not for dynamic, real-time routing decisions. If you treat VPNs like a full replacement, you’re going to run into performance and visibility gaps.

See how VPNs fit into broader controls in the SD-WAN security checklist for IT leaders.